Chapter XXXIX: Gothic Kingdom Of Italy.—Part I.

Zeno And Anastasius, Emperors Of The East.—Birth,
Education, And First Exploits Of Theodoric The Ostrogoth.—
His Invasion And Conquest Of Italy.—The Gothic Kingdom Of
Italy.—State Of The West.—Military And Civil Government.—
The Senator Boethius.—Last Acts And Death Of Theodoric.

After the fall of the Roman empire in the West, an interval of fifty
years, till the memorable reign of Justinian, is faintly marked by the
obscure names and imperfect annals of Zeno, Anastasius, and Justin, who
successively ascended to the throne of Constantinople. During the same
period, Italy revived and flourished under the government of a Gothic
king, who might have deserved a statue among the best and bravest of the
ancient Romans.

Theodoric the Ostrogoth, the fourteenth in lineal descent of the royal
line of the Amali,46834683 Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 13, 14, p. 629, 630, edit. Grot.) has drawn the pedigree of Theodoric from Gapt, one of the
Anses or Demigods, who lived about the time of Domitian. Cassiodorus, the first who celebrates the royal race of the Amali,
(Viriar. viii. 5, ix. 25, x. 2, xi. 1,) reckons the grandson of Theodoric as the xviith in descent. Peringsciold (the Swedish
commentator of Cochloeus, Vit. Theodoric. p. 271, &c., Stockholm, 1699) labors to connect this genealogy with the legends
or traditions of his native country. * Note: Amala was a name of hereditary sanctity and honor among the Visigoths. It enters
into the names of Amalaberga, Amala suintha, (swinther means strength,) Amalafred, Amalarich. In the poem of the Nibelungen
written three hundred years later, the Ostrogoths are called the Amilungen. According to Wachter it means, unstained, from
the privative a, and malo a stain. It is pure Sanscrit, Amala, immaculatus. Schlegel. Indische Bibliothek, 1. p. 233.—M.
was born in the neighborhood of Vienna46844684 More correctly on the banks of the Lake Pelso, (Nieusiedler-see,) near Carnuntum, almost on the same spot where Marcus Antoninus
composed his meditations, Jornandes, c. 52, p. 659. Severin. Pannonia Illustrata, p. 22. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. (tom.
i. p. 350.)
two
years after the death of Attila.46854685 The date of Theodoric's birth is not accurately determined. We can hardly err, observes Manso, in placing it between the
years 453 and 455, Manso, Geschichte des Ost Gothischen Reichs, p. 14.—M.
A recent victory had restored
the independence of the Ostrogoths; and the three brothers, Walamir,
Theodemir, and Widimir, who ruled that warlike nation with united
counsels, had separately pitched their habitations in the fertile though
desolate province of Pannonia. The Huns still threatened their revolted
subjects, but their hasty attack was repelled by the single forces of
Walamir, and the news of his victory reached the distant camp of his
brother in the same auspicious moment that the favorite concubine of
Theodemir was delivered of a son and heir. In the eighth year of his
age, Theodoric was reluctantly yielded by his father to the public
interest, as the pledge of an alliance which Leo, emperor of the East,
had consented to purchase by an annual subsidy of three hundred pounds
of gold. The royal hostage was educated at Constantinople with care and
tenderness. His body was formed to all the exercises of war, his mind
was expanded by the habits of liberal conversation; he frequented the
schools of the most skilful masters; but he disdained or neglected
the arts of Greece, and so ignorant did he always remain of the first
elements of science, that a rude mark was contrived to represent
the signature of the illiterate king of Italy.46864686 The four first letters of his name were inscribed on a gold plate, and when it was fixed on the paper, the king drew his
pen through the intervals (Anonym. Valesian. ad calcem Amm. Marcellin p. 722.) This authentic fact, with the testimony of
Procopius, or at least of the contemporary Goths, (Gothic. 1. i. c. 2, p. 311,) far outweighs the vague praises of Ennodius
(Sirmond Opera, tom. i. p. 1596) and Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. 112.) * Note: Le Beau and his Commentator, M. St. Martin,
support, though with no very satisfactory evidence, the opposite opinion. But Lord Mahon (Life of Belisarius, p. 19) urges
the much stronger argument, the Byzantine education of Theodroic.—M.
As soon as he had
attained the age of eighteen, he was restored to the wishes of
the Ostrogoths, whom the emperor aspired to gain by liberality and
confidence. Walamir had fallen in battle; the youngest of the brothers,
Widimir, had led away into Italy and Gaul an army of Barbarians, and the
whole nation acknowledged for their king the father of Theodoric. His
ferocious subjects admired the strength and stature of their young
prince;46874687Statura est quae resignet proceritate regnantem, (Ennodius, p. 1614.) The bishop of Pavia (I mean the ecclesiastic who wished to be a bishop) then proceeds to celebrate
the complexion, eyes, hands, &c, of his sovereign.
and he soon convinced them that he had not degenerated from
the valor of his ancestors. At the head of six thousand volunteers, he
secretly left the camp in quest of adventures, descended the Danube as
far as Singidunum, or Belgrade, and soon returned to his father with
the spoils of a Sarmatian king whom he had vanquished and slain. Such
triumphs, however, were productive only of fame, and the invincible
Ostrogoths were reduced to extreme distress by the want of clothing and
food. They unanimously resolved to desert their Pannonian encampments,
and boldly to advance into the warm and wealthy neighborhood of the
Byzantine court, which already maintained in pride and luxury so many
bands of confederate Goths. After proving, by some acts of hostility,
that they could be dangerous, or at least troublesome, enemies, the
Ostrogoths sold at a high price their reconciliation and fidelity,
accepted a donative of lands and money, and were intrusted with the
defence of the Lower Danube, under the command of Theodoric, who
succeeded after his father's death to the hereditary throne of the
Amali.46884688 The state of the Ostrogoths, and the first years of Theodoric, are found in Jornandes, (c. 52—56, p. 689—696) and Malchus,
(Excerpt. Legat. p. 78—80,) who erroneously styles him the son of Walamir.

A hero, descended from a race of kings, must have despised the base
Isaurian who was invested with the Roman purple, without any endowment
of mind or body, without any advantages of royal birth, or superior
qualifications. After the failure of the Theodosian life, the choice of
Pulcheria and of the senate might be justified in some measure by the
characters of Martin and Leo, but the latter of these princes confirmed
and dishonored his reign by the perfidious murder of Aspar and his sons,
who too rigorously exacted the debt of gratitude and obedience. The
inheritance of Leo and of the East was peaceably devolved on his infant
grandson, the son of his daughter Ariadne; and her Isaurian husband, the
fortunate Trascalisseus, exchanged that barbarous sound for the Grecian
appellation of Zeno. After the decease of the elder Leo, he approached
with unnatural respect the throne of his son, humbly received, as
a gift, the second rank in the empire, and soon excited the public
suspicion on the sudden and premature death of his young colleague,
whose life could no longer promote the success of his ambition. But the
palace of Constantinople was ruled by female influence, and agitated by
female passions: and Verina, the widow of Leo, claiming his empire as
her own, pronounced a sentence of deposition against the worthless and
ungrateful servant on whom she alone had bestowed the sceptre of the
East.46894689 Theophanes (p. 111) inserts a copy of her sacred letters to the provinces. Such female pretensions would have astonished
the slaves of the first Caesars.
As soon as she sounded a revolt in the ears of Zeno, he
fled with precipitation into the mountains of Isauria, and her brother
Basiliscus, already infamous by his African expedition,46904690 Vol. iii. p. 504—508.
was
unanimously proclaimed by the servile senate. But the reign of the
usurper was short and turbulent. Basiliscus presumed to assassinate the
lover of his sister; he dared to offend the lover of his wife, the vain
and insolent Harmatius, who, in the midst of Asiatic luxury, affected
the dress, the demeanor, and the surname of Achilles.46914691 Suidas, tom. i. p. 332, 333, edit. Kuster.
By the
conspiracy of the malecontents, Zeno was recalled from exile; the
armies, the capital, the person, of Basiliscus, were betrayed; and his
whole family was condemned to the long agony of cold and hunger by the
inhuman conqueror, who wanted courage to encounter or to forgive his
enemies.46924692 Joannes Lydus accuses Zeno of timidity, or, rather, of cowardice; he purchased an ignominious peace from the enemies of the
empire, whom he dared not meet in battle; and employed his whole time at home in confiscations and executions. Lydus, de Magist.
iii. 45, p. 230.—M.
The haughty spirit of Verina was still incapable of
submission or repose. She provoked the enmity of a favorite general,
embraced his cause as soon as he was disgraced, created a new emperor
in Syria and Egypt,46934693 Named Illus.—M.
raised an army of seventy thousand men, and
persisted to the last moment of her life in a fruitless rebellion,
which, according to the fashion of the age, had been predicted by
Christian hermits and Pagan magicians. While the East was afflicted by
the passions of Verina, her daughter Ariadne was distinguished by the
female virtues of mildness and fidelity; she followed her husband in his
exile, and after his restoration, she implored his clemency in favor of
her mother. On the decease of Zeno, Ariadne, the daughter, the mother,
and the widow of an emperor, gave her hand and the Imperial title to
Anastasius, an aged domestic of the palace, who survived his elevation
above twenty-seven years, and whose character is attested by the
acclamation of the people, "Reign as you have lived!"46944694 The contemporary histories of Malchus and Candidus are lost; but some extracts or fragments have been saved by Photius, (lxxviii.
lxxix. p. 100—102,) Constantine Porphyrogenitus, (Excerpt. Leg. p. 78—97,) and in various articles of the Lexicon of Suidas.
The Chronicles of Marcellinus (Imago Historiae) are originals for the reigns of Zeno and Anastasius; and I must acknowledge,
almost for the last time, my obligations to the large and accurate collections of Tillemont, (Hist. des Emp. tom. vi. p. 472—652).46954695 The Panegyric of Procopius of Gaza, (edited by Villoison in his Anecdota Graeca, and reprinted in the new edition of the
Byzantine historians by Niebuhr, in the same vol. with Dexippus and Eunapius, viii. p. 488 516,) was unknown to Gibbon. It
is vague and pedantic, and contains few facts. The same criticism will apply to the poetical panegyric of Priscian edited
from the Ms. of Bobbio by Ang. Mai. Priscian, the gram marian, Niebuhr argues from this work, must have been born in the African,
not in either of the Asiatic Caesareas. Pref. p. xi.—M.

Whatever fear of affection could bestow, was profusely lavished by Zeno
on the king of the Ostrogoths; the rank of patrician and consul, the
command of the Palatine troops, an equestrian statue, a treasure in gold
and silver of many thousand pounds, the name of son, and the promise of
a rich and honorable wife. As long as Theodoric condescended to serve,
he supported with courage and fidelity the cause of his benefactor; his
rapid march contributed to the restoration of Zeno; and in the second
revolt, the Walamirs, as they were called, pursued and pressed the
Asiatic rebels, till they left an easy victory to the Imperial troops.
46964696 In ipsis congressionis tuae foribus cessit invasor, cum profugo per te sceptra redderentur de salute dubitanti. Ennodius
then proceeds (p. 1596, 1597, tom. i. Sirmond.) to transport his hero (on a flying dragon?) into Aethiopia, beyond the tropic
of Cancer. The evidence of the Valesian Fragment, (p. 717,) Liberatus, (Brev. Eutych. c. 25 p. 118,) and Theophanes, (p. 112,)
is more sober and rational.
But the faithful servant was suddenly converted into a formidable
enemy, who spread the flames of war from Constantinople to the Adriatic;
many flourishing cities were reduced to ashes, and the agriculture of
Thrace was almost extirpated by the wanton cruelty of the Goths, who
deprived their captive peasants of the right hand that guided the
plough.46974697 This cruel practice is specially imputed to the Triarian Goths, less barbarous, as it should seem, than the Walamirs; but
the son of Theodemir is charged with the ruin of many Roman cities, (Malchus, Excerpt. Leg. p. 95.)
On such occasions, Theodoric sustained the loud and
specious reproach of disloyalty, of ingratitude, and of insatiate
avarice, which could be only excused by the hard necessity of his
situation. He reigned, not as the monarch, but as the minister of a
ferocious people, whose spirit was unbroken by slavery, and impatient of
real or imaginary insults. Their poverty was incurable; since the most
liberal donatives were soon dissipated in wasteful luxury, and the most
fertile estates became barren in their hands; they despised, but they
envied, the laborious provincials; and when their subsistence had
failed, the Ostrogoths embraced the familiar resources of war and
rapine. It had been the wish of Theodoric (such at least was his
declaration) to lead a peaceful, obscure, obedient life on the confines
of Scythia, till the Byzantine court, by splendid and fallacious
promises, seduced him to attack a confederate tribe of Goths, who had
been engaged in the party of Basiliscus. He marched from his station in
Maesia, on the solemn assurance that before he reached Adrianople, he
should meet a plentiful convoy of provisions, and a reenforcement of
eight thousand horse and thirty thousand foot, while the legions of Asia
were encamped at Heraclea to second his operations. These measures were
disappointed by mutual jealousy. As he advanced into Thrace, the son of
Theodemir found an inhospitable solitude, and his Gothic followers, with
a heavy train of horses, of mules, and of wagons, were betrayed by their
guides among the rocks and precipices of Mount Sondis, where he was
assaulted by the arms and invectives of Theodoric the son of Triarius.
From a neighboring height, his artful rival harangued the camp of the
Walamirs, and branded their leader with the opprobrious names of child,
of madman, of perjured traitor, the enemy of his blood and nation. "Are
you ignorant," exclaimed the son of Triarius, "that it is the constant
policy of the Romans to destroy the Goths by each other's swords?
Are you insensible that the victor in this unnatural contest will be
exposed, and justly exposed, to their implacable revenge? Where are
those warriors, my kinsmen and thy own, whose widows now lament that
their lives were sacrificed to thy rash ambition? Where is the wealth
which thy soldiers possessed when they were first allured from their
native homes to enlist under thy standard? Each of them was then master
of three or four horses; they now follow thee on foot, like slaves,
through the deserts of Thrace; those men who were tempted by the hope
of measuring gold with a bushel, those brave men who are as free and as
noble as thyself." A language so well suited to the temper of the Goths
excited clamor and discontent; and the son of Theodemir, apprehensive of
being left alone, was compelled to embrace his brethren, and to imitate
the example of Roman perfidy.46984698 Jornandes (c. 56, 57, p. 696) displays the services of Theodoric, confesses his rewards, but dissembles his revolt, of which
such curious details have been preserved by Malchus, (Excerpt. Legat. p. 78—97.) Marcellinus, a domestic of Justinian, under
whose ivth consulship (A.D. 534) he composed his Chronicle, (Scaliger, Thesaurus Temporum, P. ii, p. 34—57,) betrays his prejudice
and passion: in Graeciam debacchantem ...Zenonis munificentia pene pacatus...beneficiis nunquam satiatus, &c.46994699 Gibbon has omitted much of the complicated intrigues of the Byzantine court with the two Theodorics. The weak emperor attempted
to play them one against the other, and was himself in turn insulted, and the empire ravaged, by both. The details of the
successive alliance and revolt, of hostility and of union, between the two Gothic chieftains, to dictate terms to the emperor,
may be found in Malchus.—M.

In every state of his fortune, the prudence and firmness of Theodoric
were equally conspicuous; whether he threatened Constantinople at the
head of the confederate Goths, or retreated with a faithful band to the
mountains and sea-coast of Epirus. At length the accidental death of the
son of Triarius47004700 As he was riding in his own camp, an unruly horse threw him against the point of a spear which hung before a tent, or was
fixed on a wagon, (Marcellin. in Chron. Evagrius, l. iii. c. 25.)
destroyed the balance which the Romans had been so
anxious to preserve, the whole nation acknowledged the supremacy of the
Amali, and the Byzantine court subscribed an ignominious and oppressive
treaty.47014701 See Malchus (p. 91) and Evagrius, (l. iii. c. 35.)
The senate had already declared, that it was necessary
to choose a party among the Goths, since the public was unequal to the
support of their united forces; a subsidy of two thousand pounds of
gold, with the ample pay of thirteen thousand men, were required for the
least considerable of their armies;47024702 Malchus, p. 85. In a single action, which was decided by the skill and discipline of Sabinian, Theodoric could lose 5000
men.
and the Isaurians, who guarded
not the empire but the emperor, enjoyed, besides the privilege of
rapine, an annual pension of five thousand pounds. The sagacious mind of
Theodoric soon perceived that he was odious to the Romans, and suspected
by the Barbarians: he understood the popular murmur, that his subjects
were exposed in their frozen huts to intolerable hardships, while their
king was dissolved in the luxury of Greece, and he prevented the painful
alternative of encountering the Goths, as the champion, or of leading
them to the field, as the enemy, of Zeno. Embracing an enterprise worthy
of his courage and ambition, Theodoric addressed the emperor in the
following words: "Although your servant is maintained in affluence by
your liberality, graciously listen to the wishes of my heart! Italy, the
inheritance of your predecessors, and Rome itself, the head and mistress
of the world, now fluctuate under the violence and oppression of Odoacer
the mercenary. Direct me, with my national troops, to march against
the tyrant. If I fall, you will be relieved from an expensive and
troublesome friend: if, with the divine permission, I succeed, I shall
govern in your name, and to your glory, the Roman senate, and the part
of the republic delivered from slavery by my victorious arms." The
proposal of Theodoric was accepted, and perhaps had been suggested, by
the Byzantine court. But the forms of the commission, or grant,
appear to have been expressed with a prudent ambiguity, which might be
explained by the event; and it was left doubtful, whether the conqueror
of Italy should reign as the lieutenant, the vassal, or the ally, of the
emperor of the East.47034703 Jornandes (c. 57, p. 696, 697) has abridged the great history of Cassiodorus. See, compare, and reconcile Procopius, (Gothic.
l. i. c. i.,) the Valesian Fragment, (p. 718,) Theophanes, (p. 113,) and Marcellinus, (in Chron.)

The reputation both of the leader and of the war diffused a universal
ardor; the Walamirs were multiplied by the Gothic swarms already engaged
in the service, or seated in the provinces, of the empire; and each
bold Barbarian, who had heard of the wealth and beauty of Italy, was
impatient to seek, through the most perilous adventures, the possession
of such enchanting objects. The march of Theodoric must be considered as
the emigration of an entire people; the wives and children of the
Goths, their aged parents, and most precious effects, were carefully
transported; and some idea may be formed of the heavy baggage that now
followed the camp, by the loss of two thousand wagons, which had
been sustained in a single action in the war of Epirus. For their
subsistence, the Goths depended on the magazines of corn which was
ground in portable mills by the hands of their women; on the milk and
flesh of their flocks and herds; on the casual produce of the chase, and
upon the contributions which they might impose on all who should
presume to dispute the passage, or to refuse their friendly assistance.
Notwithstanding these precautions, they were exposed to the danger, and
almost to the distress, of famine, in a march of seven hundred miles,
which had been undertaken in the depth of a rigorous winter. Since the
fall of the Roman power, Dacia and Pannonia no longer exhibited the
rich prospect of populous cities, well-cultivated fields, and convenient
highways: the reign of barbarism and desolation was restored, and the
tribes of Bulgarians, Gepidae, and Sarmatians, who had occupied the
vacant province, were prompted by their native fierceness, or the
solicitations of Odoacer, to resist the progress of his enemy. In many
obscure though bloody battles, Theodoric fought and vanquished; till at
length, surmounting every obstacle by skilful conduct and persevering
courage, he descended from the Julian Alps, and displayed his invincible
banners on the confines of Italy.47044704 Theodoric's march is supplied and illustrated by Ennodius, (p. 1598—1602,) when the bombast of the oration is translated
into the language of common sense.

Odoacer, a rival not unworthy of his arms, had already occupied the
advantageous and well-known post of the River Sontius, near the ruins of
Aquileia, at the head of a powerful host, whose independent kings47054705 Tot reges, &c., (Ennodius, p. 1602.) We must recollect how much the royal title was multiplied and degraded, and that the
mercenaries of Italy were the fragments of many tribes and nations.
or leaders disdained the duties of subordination and the prudence of
delays. No sooner had Theodoric gained a short repose and refreshment to
his wearied cavalry, than he boldly attacked the fortifications of the
enemy; the Ostrogoths showed more ardor to acquire, than the mercenaries
to defend, the lands of Italy; and the reward of the first victory was
the possession of the Venetian province as far as the walls of Verona.
In the neighborhood of that city, on the steep banks of the rapid
Adige, he was opposed by a new army, reenforced in its numbers, and not
impaired in its courage: the contest was more obstinate, but the event
was still more decisive; Odoacer fled to Ravenna, Theodoric advanced
to Milan, and the vanquished troops saluted their conqueror with loud
acclamations of respect and fidelity. But their want either of constancy
or of faith soon exposed him to the most imminent danger; his vanguard,
with several Gothic counts, which had been rashly intrusted to
a deserter, was betrayed and destroyed near Faenza by his double
treachery; Odoacer again appeared master of the field, and the invader,
strongly intrenched in his camp of Pavia, was reduced to solicit the
aid of a kindred nation, the Visigoths of Gaul. In the course of
this History, the most voracious appetite for war will be abundantly
satiated; nor can I much lament that our dark and imperfect materials do
not afford a more ample narrative of the distress of Italy, and of the
fierce conflict, which was finally decided by the abilities, experience,
and valor of the Gothic king. Immediately before the battle of Verona,
he visited the tent of his mother47064706 See Ennodius, p. 1603, 1604. Since the orator, in the king's presence, could mention and praise his mother, we may conclude
that the magnanimity of Theodoric was not hurt by the vulgar reproaches of concubine and bastard. * Note: Gibbon here assumes
that the mother of Theodoric was the concubine of Theodemir, which he leaves doubtful in the text.—M.
and sister, and requested, that
on a day, the most illustrious festival of his life, they would adorn
him with the rich garments which they had worked with their own hands.
"Our glory," said he, "is mutual and inseparable. You are known to the
world as the mother of Theodoric; and it becomes me to prove, that I am
the genuine offspring of those heroes from whom I claim my descent."
The wife or concubine of Theodemir was inspired with the spirit of the
German matrons, who esteemed their sons' honor far above their safety;
and it is reported, that in a desperate action, when Theodoric himself
was hurried along by the torrent of a flying crowd, she boldly met them
at the entrance of the camp, and, by her generous reproaches, drove them
back on the swords of the enemy.47074707 This anecdote is related on the modern but respectable authority of Sigonius, (Op. tom. i. p. 580. De Occident. Impl. l.
xv.:) his words are curious: "Would you return?" &c. She presented and almost displayed the original recess. * Note: The authority
of Sigonius would scarcely have weighed with Gibboa except for an indecent anecdote. I have a recollection of a similar story
in some of the Italian wars.—M.

From the Alps to the extremity of Calabria, Theodoric reigned by the
right of conquest; the Vandal ambassadors surrendered the Island of
Sicily, as a lawful appendage of his kingdom; and he was accepted as
the deliverer of Rome by the senate and people, who had shut their
gates against the flying usurper.47084708 Hist. Miscell. l. xv., a Roman history from Janus to the ixth century, an Epitome of Eutropius, Paulus Diaconus, and Theophanes
which Muratori has published from a Ms. in the Ambrosian library, (Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. i. p. 100.)
Ravenna alone, secure in the
fortifications of art and nature, still sustained a siege of almost
three years; and the daring sallies of Odoacer carried slaughter and
dismay into the Gothic camp. At length, destitute of provisions and
hopeless of relief, that unfortunate monarch yielded to the groans of
his subjects and the clamors of his soldiers. A treaty of peace was
negotiated by the bishop of Ravenna; the Ostrogoths were admitted into
the city, and the hostile kings consented, under the sanction of an
oath, to rule with equal and undivided authority the provinces of Italy.
The event of such an agreement may be easily foreseen. After some days
had been devoted to the semblance of joy and friendship, Odoacer, in the
midst of a solemn banquet, was stabbed by the hand, or at least by the
command, of his rival. Secret and effectual orders had been previously
despatched; the faithless and rapacious mercenaries, at the same moment,
and without resistance, were universally massacred; and the royalty
of Theodoric was proclaimed by the Goths, with the tardy, reluctant,
ambiguous consent of the emperor of the East. The design of a conspiracy
was imputed, according to the usual forms, to the prostrate tyrant; but
his innocence, and the guilt of his conqueror,47094709 Procopius (Gothic. l. i. c. i.) approves himself an impartial sceptic. Cassiodorus (in Chron.) and Ennodius (p. 1604) are
loyal and credulous, and the testimony of the Valesian Fragment (p. 718) may justify their belief. Marcellinus spits the venom
of a Greek subject—perjuriis illectus, interfectusque est, (in Chron.)
are sufficiently
proved by the advantageous treaty which force would not sincerely have
granted, nor weakness have rashly infringed. The jealousy of power,
and the mischiefs of discord, may suggest a more decent apology, and
a sentence less rigorous may be pronounced against a crime which was
necessary to introduce into Italy a generation of public felicity.
The living author of this felicity was audaciously praised in his own
presence by sacred and profane orators;47104710 The sonorous and servile oration of Ennodius was pronounced at Milan or Ravenna in the years 507 or 508, (Sirmond, tom. i.
p. 615.) Two or three years afterwards, the orator was rewarded with the bishopric of Pavia, which he held till his death
in the year 521. (Dupin, Bibliot. Eccles. tom. v. p. 11-14. See Saxii Onomasticon, tom. ii. p. 12.)
but history (in his time
she was mute and inglorious) has not left any just representation of the
events which displayed, or of the defects which clouded, the virtues of
Theodoric.47114711 Our best materials are occasional hints from Procopius and the Valesian Fragment, which was discovered by Sirmond, and is
published at the end of Ammianus Marcellinus. The author's name is unknown, and his style is barbarous; but in his various
facts he exhibits the knowledge, without the passions, of a contemporary. The president Montesquieu had formed the plan of
a history of Theodoric, which at a distance might appear a rich and interesting subject.
One record of his fame, the volume of public epistles
composed by Cassiodorus in the royal name, is still extant, and has
obtained more implicit credit than it seems to deserve.47124712 The best edition of the Variarum Libri xii. is that of Joh. Garretius, (Rotomagi, 1679, in Opp. Cassiodor. 2 vols. in fol.;)
but they deserved and required such an editor as the Marquis Scipio Maffei, who thought of publishing them at Verona. The
Barbara Eleganza (as it is ingeniously named by Tiraboschi) is never simple, and seldom perspicuous
They
exhibit the forms, rather than the substance, of his government; and
we should vainly search for the pure and spontaneous sentiments of the
Barbarian amidst the declamation and learning of a sophist, the wishes
of a Roman senator, the precedents of office, and the vague professions,
which, in every court, and on every occasion, compose the language of
discreet ministers. The reputation of Theodoric may repose with
more confidence on the visible peace and prosperity of a reign of
thirty-three years; the unanimous esteem of his own times, and the
memory of his wisdom and courage, his justice and humanity, which was
deeply impressed on the minds of the Goths and Italians.

The partition of the lands of Italy, of which Theodoric assigned the
third part to his soldiers, is honorably arraigned as the sole injustice
of his life.47134713 Compare Gibbon, ch. xxxvi. vol. iii. p. 459, &c.—Manso observes that this division was conducted not in a violent and irregular,
but in a legal and orderly, manner. The Barbarian, who could not show a title of grant from the officers of Theodoric appointed
for the purpose, or a prescriptive right of thirty years, in case he had obtained the property before the Ostrogothic conquest,
was ejected from the estate. He conceives that estates too small to bear division paid a third of their produce.—Geschichte
des Os Gothischen Reiches, p. 82.—M.
And even this act may be fairly justified by the
example of Odoacer, the rights of conquest, the true interest of the
Italians, and the sacred duty of subsisting a whole people, who, on the
faith of his promises, had transported themselves into a distant land.
47144714 Procopius, Gothic, l. i. c. i. Variarum, ii. Maffei (Verona Illustrata, P. i. p. 228) exaggerates the injustice of the Goths,
whom he hated as an Italian noble. The plebeian Muratori crouches under their oppression.
Under the reign of Theodoric, and in the happy climate of Italy,
the Goths soon multiplied to a formidable host of two hundred thousand
men,47154715 Procopius, Goth. l. iii. c. 421. Ennodius describes (p. 1612, 1613) the military arts and increasing numbers of the Goths.
and the whole amount of their families may be computed by the
ordinary addition of women and children. Their invasion of property,
a part of which must have been already vacant, was disguised by the
generous but improper name of hospitality; these unwelcome guests
were irregularly dispersed over the face of Italy, and the lot of
each Barbarian was adequate to his birth and office, the number of
his followers, and the rustic wealth which he possessed in slaves and
cattle. The distinction of noble and plebeian were acknowledged;47164716 When Theodoric gave his sister to the king of the Vandals she sailed for Africa with a guard of 1000 noble Goths, each of
whom was attended by five armed followers, (Procop. Vandal. l. i. c. 8.) The Gothic nobility must have been as numerous as
brave.
but the lands of every freeman were exempt from taxes,47174717 Manso (p. 100) quotes two passages from Cassiodorus to show that the Goths were not exempt from the fiscal claims.—Cassiodor,
i. 19, iv. 14—M.
and he
enjoyed the inestimable privilege of being subject only to the laws
of his country.47184718 See the acknowledgment of Gothic liberty, (Var. v. 30.)
Fashion, and even convenience, soon persuaded the
conquerors to assume the more elegant dress of the natives, but they
still persisted in the use of their mother-tongue; and their contempt
for the Latin schools was applauded by Theodoric himself, who gratified
their prejudices, or his own, by declaring, that the child who had
trembled at a rod, would never dare to look upon a sword.47194719 Procopius, Goth. l. i. c. 2. The Roman boys learnt the language (Var. viii. 21) of the Goths. Their general ignorance is
not destroyed by the exceptions of Amalasuntha, a female, who might study without shame, or of Theodatus, whose learning provoked
the indignation and contempt of his countrymen.
Distress
might sometimes provoke the indigent Roman to assume the ferocious
manners which were insensibly relinquished by the rich and luxurious
Barbarian;47204720 A saying of Theodoric was founded on experience: "Romanus miser imitatur Gothum; ut utilis (dives) Gothus imitatur Romanum."
(See the Fragment and Notes of Valesius, p. 719.)
but these mutual conversions were not encouraged by the
policy of a monarch who perpetuated the separation of the Italians and
Goths; reserving the former for the arts of peace, and the latter for
the service of war. To accomplish this design, he studied to protect his
industrious subjects, and to moderate the violence, without enervating
the valor, of his soldiers, who were maintained for the public defence.
They held their lands and benefices as a military stipend: at the sound
of the trumpet, they were prepared to march under the conduct of their
provincial officers; and the whole extent of Italy was distributed into
the several quarters of a well-regulated camp. The service of the palace
and of the frontiers was performed by choice or by rotation; and
each extraordinary fatigue was recompensed by an increase of pay and
occasional donatives. Theodoric had convinced his brave companions,
that empire must be acquired and defended by the same arts. After his
example, they strove to excel in the use, not only of the lance and
sword, the instruments of their victories, but of the missile weapons,
which they were too much inclined to neglect; and the lively image of
war was displayed in the daily exercise and annual reviews of the Gothic
cavalry. A firm though gentle discipline imposed the habits of modesty,
obedience, and temperance; and the Goths were instructed to spare
the people, to reverence the laws, to understand the duties of civil
society, and to disclaim the barbarous license of judicial combat and
private revenge.47214721 The view of the military establishment of the Goths in Italy is collected from the Epistles of Cassiodorus (Var. i. 24, 40;
iii. 3, 24, 48; iv. 13, 14; v. 26, 27; viii. 3, 4, 25.) They are illustrated by the learned Mascou, (Hist. of the Germans,
l. xi. 40—44, Annotation xiv.) Note: Compare Manso, Geschichte des Ost Gothischen Reiches, p. 114.—M.

4683 Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 13, 14, p. 629, 630, edit. Grot.) has drawn the pedigree of Theodoric from Gapt, one of the
Anses or Demigods, who lived about the time of Domitian. Cassiodorus, the first who celebrates the royal race of the Amali,
(Viriar. viii. 5, ix. 25, x. 2, xi. 1,) reckons the grandson of Theodoric as the xviith in descent. Peringsciold (the Swedish
commentator of Cochloeus, Vit. Theodoric. p. 271, &c., Stockholm, 1699) labors to connect this genealogy with the legends
or traditions of his native country. * Note: Amala was a name of hereditary sanctity and honor among the Visigoths. It enters
into the names of Amalaberga, Amala suintha, (swinther means strength,) Amalafred, Amalarich. In the poem of the Nibelungen
written three hundred years later, the Ostrogoths are called the Amilungen. According to Wachter it means, unstained, from
the privative a, and malo a stain. It is pure Sanscrit, Amala, immaculatus. Schlegel. Indische Bibliothek, 1. p. 233.—M.

4685 The date of Theodoric's birth is not accurately determined. We can hardly err, observes Manso, in placing it between the
years 453 and 455, Manso, Geschichte des Ost Gothischen Reichs, p. 14.—M.

4686 The four first letters of his name were inscribed on a gold plate, and when it was fixed on the paper, the king drew his
pen through the intervals (Anonym. Valesian. ad calcem Amm. Marcellin p. 722.) This authentic fact, with the testimony of
Procopius, or at least of the contemporary Goths, (Gothic. 1. i. c. 2, p. 311,) far outweighs the vague praises of Ennodius
(Sirmond Opera, tom. i. p. 1596) and Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. 112.) * Note: Le Beau and his Commentator, M. St. Martin,
support, though with no very satisfactory evidence, the opposite opinion. But Lord Mahon (Life of Belisarius, p. 19) urges
the much stronger argument, the Byzantine education of Theodroic.—M.

4687Statura est quae resignet proceritate regnantem, (Ennodius, p. 1614.) The bishop of Pavia (I mean the ecclesiastic who wished to be a bishop) then proceeds to celebrate
the complexion, eyes, hands, &c, of his sovereign.

4688 The state of the Ostrogoths, and the first years of Theodoric, are found in Jornandes, (c. 52—56, p. 689—696) and Malchus,
(Excerpt. Legat. p. 78—80,) who erroneously styles him the son of Walamir.

4689 Theophanes (p. 111) inserts a copy of her sacred letters to the provinces. Such female pretensions would have astonished
the slaves of the first Caesars.

4692 Joannes Lydus accuses Zeno of timidity, or, rather, of cowardice; he purchased an ignominious peace from the enemies of the
empire, whom he dared not meet in battle; and employed his whole time at home in confiscations and executions. Lydus, de Magist.
iii. 45, p. 230.—M.

4694 The contemporary histories of Malchus and Candidus are lost; but some extracts or fragments have been saved by Photius, (lxxviii.
lxxix. p. 100—102,) Constantine Porphyrogenitus, (Excerpt. Leg. p. 78—97,) and in various articles of the Lexicon of Suidas.
The Chronicles of Marcellinus (Imago Historiae) are originals for the reigns of Zeno and Anastasius; and I must acknowledge,
almost for the last time, my obligations to the large and accurate collections of Tillemont, (Hist. des Emp. tom. vi. p. 472—652).

4695 The Panegyric of Procopius of Gaza, (edited by Villoison in his Anecdota Graeca, and reprinted in the new edition of the
Byzantine historians by Niebuhr, in the same vol. with Dexippus and Eunapius, viii. p. 488 516,) was unknown to Gibbon. It
is vague and pedantic, and contains few facts. The same criticism will apply to the poetical panegyric of Priscian edited
from the Ms. of Bobbio by Ang. Mai. Priscian, the gram marian, Niebuhr argues from this work, must have been born in the African,
not in either of the Asiatic Caesareas. Pref. p. xi.—M.

4697 This cruel practice is specially imputed to the Triarian Goths, less barbarous, as it should seem, than the Walamirs; but
the son of Theodemir is charged with the ruin of many Roman cities, (Malchus, Excerpt. Leg. p. 95.)

4699 Gibbon has omitted much of the complicated intrigues of the Byzantine court with the two Theodorics. The weak emperor attempted
to play them one against the other, and was himself in turn insulted, and the empire ravaged, by both. The details of the
successive alliance and revolt, of hostility and of union, between the two Gothic chieftains, to dictate terms to the emperor,
may be found in Malchus.—M.

4700 As he was riding in his own camp, an unruly horse threw him against the point of a spear which hung before a tent, or was
fixed on a wagon, (Marcellin. in Chron. Evagrius, l. iii. c. 25.)

4704 Theodoric's march is supplied and illustrated by Ennodius, (p. 1598—1602,) when the bombast of the oration is translated
into the language of common sense.

4705 Tot reges, &c., (Ennodius, p. 1602.) We must recollect how much the royal title was multiplied and degraded, and that the
mercenaries of Italy were the fragments of many tribes and nations.

4706 See Ennodius, p. 1603, 1604. Since the orator, in the king's presence, could mention and praise his mother, we may conclude
that the magnanimity of Theodoric was not hurt by the vulgar reproaches of concubine and bastard. * Note: Gibbon here assumes
that the mother of Theodoric was the concubine of Theodemir, which he leaves doubtful in the text.—M.

4707 This anecdote is related on the modern but respectable authority of Sigonius, (Op. tom. i. p. 580. De Occident. Impl. l.
xv.:) his words are curious: "Would you return?" &c. She presented and almost displayed the original recess. * Note: The authority
of Sigonius would scarcely have weighed with Gibboa except for an indecent anecdote. I have a recollection of a similar story
in some of the Italian wars.—M.

4708 Hist. Miscell. l. xv., a Roman history from Janus to the ixth century, an Epitome of Eutropius, Paulus Diaconus, and Theophanes
which Muratori has published from a Ms. in the Ambrosian library, (Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. i. p. 100.)

4710 The sonorous and servile oration of Ennodius was pronounced at Milan or Ravenna in the years 507 or 508, (Sirmond, tom. i.
p. 615.) Two or three years afterwards, the orator was rewarded with the bishopric of Pavia, which he held till his death
in the year 521. (Dupin, Bibliot. Eccles. tom. v. p. 11-14. See Saxii Onomasticon, tom. ii. p. 12.)

4711 Our best materials are occasional hints from Procopius and the Valesian Fragment, which was discovered by Sirmond, and is
published at the end of Ammianus Marcellinus. The author's name is unknown, and his style is barbarous; but in his various
facts he exhibits the knowledge, without the passions, of a contemporary. The president Montesquieu had formed the plan of
a history of Theodoric, which at a distance might appear a rich and interesting subject.

4712 The best edition of the Variarum Libri xii. is that of Joh. Garretius, (Rotomagi, 1679, in Opp. Cassiodor. 2 vols. in fol.;)
but they deserved and required such an editor as the Marquis Scipio Maffei, who thought of publishing them at Verona. The
Barbara Eleganza (as it is ingeniously named by Tiraboschi) is never simple, and seldom perspicuous

4713 Compare Gibbon, ch. xxxvi. vol. iii. p. 459, &c.—Manso observes that this division was conducted not in a violent and irregular,
but in a legal and orderly, manner. The Barbarian, who could not show a title of grant from the officers of Theodoric appointed
for the purpose, or a prescriptive right of thirty years, in case he had obtained the property before the Ostrogothic conquest,
was ejected from the estate. He conceives that estates too small to bear division paid a third of their produce.—Geschichte
des Os Gothischen Reiches, p. 82.—M.

4716 When Theodoric gave his sister to the king of the Vandals she sailed for Africa with a guard of 1000 noble Goths, each of
whom was attended by five armed followers, (Procop. Vandal. l. i. c. 8.) The Gothic nobility must have been as numerous as
brave.

4717 Manso (p. 100) quotes two passages from Cassiodorus to show that the Goths were not exempt from the fiscal claims.—Cassiodor,
i. 19, iv. 14—M.

4719 Procopius, Goth. l. i. c. 2. The Roman boys learnt the language (Var. viii. 21) of the Goths. Their general ignorance is
not destroyed by the exceptions of Amalasuntha, a female, who might study without shame, or of Theodatus, whose learning provoked
the indignation and contempt of his countrymen.